"But when the taxman comes to the door"

"Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale"  CCR

 Hope everyone survived another tax day coming and going. If it makes you feel better, just think Nicholas Cage owes 13M in back taxes, ouch!


We have had some movement in our complexes in the past week

The Windrush on the 5th floor direct ocean 2 bedrooms 2 baths and upgraded that we were watching to see the sale price closed for $300,000, it was listed at the time of sale for $310,000. I think this is a win, win for buyer and seller. It was on the market for 76 days.

The 1st floor that I mentioned earlier which is a 3 bedrooms 2 baths has been reduced to $287,500 from $299,000.

A new listing in the front buildings of The Diplomat was listed at $144,900. That now puts the price range of the front buildings between $110,000 and $144,900.

Windward East has a new listing on the 5th floor which is a 3 bedroom 2 bath unit with a 2 car garage listed at $349,900.

The 2 bedroom 2 bath unit on the 6th floor has been reduced to $279,900.

The 2 bedroom 2 bath unit on the 7th floor is still active and listed at $229,000 as a short sale. This is a good view on a side unit on the top floor. Once an offer is received then the negotiation starts with the lender and then the agent can tell if they are priced too high or too low, I would guess too low. This is the first short sale in Windward East.

For information there is a bank liquidation sale going now in the Ocean Club condo complex on Hayes Ave. If you are searching on a public site you will see it says ocean front but it really is not. Some units have ocean views but the building sits back about ½ block from the ocean. One just sold for $465,000 4th floor 3 bedrooms 2 baths with 2914 sq ft. underground parking. There are still 3 active priced from $439,000 2759 sq ft to $849,000 for a penthouse with 4 bedrooms 3 ½ baths 4565 sq ft.



Thanks

Jim Bagwell

"You can't always get what you want"

"But if you try real hard, sometime you can get what you need"  The Stones of course 
Windrush

This is what we used to call a sign listing.  With a condo and no sign it is now called a call listing.  The agent is a very intelligent and successful agent.  This listing can't appraise so they are looking for a cash buyer that just can't live without a 3 bedroom 2 bath SE corner unit on the 2nd floor listed at $485,000.  Some agent will always take a listing like this, the reasoning is if they don't, someone else will take it.

Windward East

Good news is that if someone shows the Windrush they will also show the top floor Windward East with 200 less sq ft and a price difference of $156,000.

2100 Towers

Nothing under contract but some price reductions.

The Diplomat

The unit that we have been watching that was under contract has closed at $190,000.  It was listed at $214,900 on the market for 116 days.

It is very interesting that 5 units on the ocean has sold in the past year.  The sold prices have ran from $190,000 to $259,000. 

Now back in the day, one of my favorite clients made a cash offer on a oceanfront unit that I delivered at 7pm on a Friday night $1000 over the list price and they didn't get it.

Change won't always do you good!

Jim Bagwell

Pic is from the aftermath of the Shuttle launch

"All reformers, however strict their social conscience,

live in houses just as big as they can pay for"  Logan Piersall Smith

I was thinking the other day while writing that most people would think that I blog as a realtor not realizing other people’s positions.


The truth of the matter is that most days we give advice to people about short selling their properties and or facing foreclosure. We purchased our condo in Windward East at the peak of the market and then gutted it from the drywall. We then replaced everything new including walls, floors, plumbing, paint and appliances. If we had the unit appraised today I am sure it would appraise at $100,000 less than what we have in it. Pragmatically speaking we should be considering a short sale or even foreclosure. The Brevard county Real Estate market will be one of the last in Florida to come back because of the job loss of KSC and because we grew property values at one of the highest rates in the state. For one of the 1st times in recent years direct ocean condos have fallen to below $200 a sq ft.

The fact of the matter is we love Cocoa Beach and we love where we live so we are going to ride it out and take our lumps.

Windrush

Talk about a dichotomy!

A 2 bedroom 2 bath unit with a side view north has been reduced to $227,000. This unit is on the 2nd floor with a 1 car garage.

A 2 bedroom 2 bath unit in the front building, no view on the 2nd floor with stairs and no garage listed at $209,000.

Hang in there and a change will do you good.

Jim Bagwell

"For what it is worth"

There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Buffalo Springfield

There have been 13 units sold in our 4 complexes in the past calendar year.




2100 Towers had four units sell.

1150 sq ft unit 1 bedroom 2 baths direct ocean 11th floor was listed at $199,900 and sold at $165,000 in 11 days. Closed 6/12/09



1400 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths side unit 1st floor was listed at $179,500 and sold at $165,000 in 95 days. Closed 7/1/09



1400 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths side unit 6th floor was listed at $179,900 and sold at $172,000 in 29 days. Closed 11/20/09



1400 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct unit 8th floor was listed at $249,900 and sold at $215,000 in 72 days. Closed 04/30/09



The Diplomat had four units sell.

750 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 1 bath front bldg unit 1st floor was listed at $125,000 and sold at $112,000 in 119 days. Closed 10/1/09



900 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean 1st floor was listed at $219,900 and sold at $210,000 in 114 days. Closed 6/30/09



900 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean 1st floor was listed at $259,900 and sold at $215,000 in 537 days, original listed at $349,900. Closed 3/31/09



900 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean 2nd floor was listed at $289,800 and sold at $259,000 in 25 days. Closed 3/27/09



Windrush had 2 units sell

1240 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths front bldg 2nd floor was listed at $135,000 and sold at $135,000 in 27 days. Closed 10/09/09



1495 sq ft unit 3 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean 3rd floor was listed at $328,000 and sold at $265,000 in 199 days. Closed 11/5/09

Windward East had 3 units sell

1394 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean not listed in MLS but sold for $250,000. Closed 8/11/09



1316 sq ft unit 2bedrooms 2 baths side unit listed at $299,900 and sold for $285,000 in 146 days. Closed 5/11/09



1394 sq ft unit 2 bedrooms 2 baths direct ocean listed at $328,000 and sold for $304,500 in 134 days, original list price $329,000. Closed 11/30/09

Now don’t panic most posts are short and to the point this is a yearly recap, kind of like the state of the union but different .



It is interesting to note that the sale prices indicate we have reached the point of being under $200 per sq ft on direct ocean units. That is a point we haven’t been at in a very long time.



Hit them long and straight.



Jim Bagwell

Cocoa Beach

What a country!!!

We will use this post to recap what has happened and what is happening in our complexes.


As of 03/27/10 there are 20 active listings in our 4 complexes, there is also one oceanfront in The Diplomat under contract with a list price of $214,900 and one Windrush direct ocean under contract listed at $310,000 this is the one that I mentioned it was surprising that it is still active.


The Diplomat

There are 5 in the front buildings listed from $116,000 to $144,500. The average days on the market for these 5 listings is 281 days, keep in mind almost all of these have been reduced in price.


2100 Towers


There are currently 4 active listings on the market. This complex has the most widely spread price range. There is an interior unit with 1200 sq ft 2/2 priced at $224,900. There are 3 end units with 1600 sq ft priced from $239,900 all the way to $420,000. Now keep in mind that the floors range also from the 3rd floor to the 12th floor.



Windrush


There are 5 active listings on the market priced from $227,000 to $299,000. All but one are side units with the 1st floor unit being direct ocean and priced at $299,000 with 3 bedrooms 2 baths.



Windward east

There are 4 active units on the market priced from $229,000 to $329,000. 2 of these are priced at $229,000 1 is a 1/1 on the top floor and 1 is a top floor short sale side unit. (Short sale means the bank agrees to accept less than what the mortgage amount is at the time of sale. You usually have to have an offer to start negotiation with the bank and this unit may be priced too low just to get the process started.) The other is a 2/2 side unit for $299,900 and the other is a top floor 2/2 sandollar at $329,000.



The next post will be all that have sold in the past year.



If you find this information interesting or helpful just send me an email at walkerbagwell@aol.com and it will be sent to you each time it is posted. This is only to inform you not to sell you. “Knowledge is Power”



Thank you



Jim Bagwell

"I want the easy, easy money"

"Easy money, I could get lucky"  Billy Joel



We have talked about the process before but I was asked by a member of the association the other day why agents take listings that are obviously overpriced when all the expense for selling the property falls on the agent.




This is called volume listing and there is technically nothing wrong with the process either legally or ethically. The way the listing agent is thinking is that I will get phone calls on the listing and may be able to sell the buyer another listing that is priced accordingly and in the meantime I can get feedback from other agents that states the unit is overpriced, this way you can list at an unreasonable price but work to reduce the listing price, this will assure that it is not your fault it is the market. The way this usually happens is when the listing agent receives a call; they ask what the sellers need to get out of the property. Now when they get this number they do several different things. The most common is to fabricate the comparative market analysis; you can do this by using actives instead of sold comparables. If it hasn’t sold it is not a comparable. Just because there is a 1600 sq ft direct ocean unit on the market for 539 days for $499,000 does not make this a comparable. The easiest way is to say lets try it at this price for 30 days and if we don’t get activity, we will reduce the price.



In my humble opinion it makes you feel much better as a real estate professional to present a comparative market analysis with sold properties and state the market indicates this is what we can expect the range of offers will be concentrated. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying that we will list at your price and watch the activity.



I am not Italian so when I cook pasta I just keep throwing it against the fridge to see what sticks (volume listing); the problem is you need to work for the seller when you are the listing agent with no false expectations to either party.



Peace out



Jim Bagwell

"Every year is getting shorter"

"never seem to find the time"  Pink Floyd

I was doing my morning search on the market and came across a new listing at the Crossway in Cocoa Beach.  If you are not familiar with Crossway it is the half circle complex on Ocean Beach Blvd.  Rumor has it that the original astronauts stayed there as well as in the Mark condo.  This unit is a short sale, 1st floor listed at $164,900, started out at $190,000 and not a short sale.  I showed a lot of these units just a few years back, what struck me was the fact that  in 2006 a unit on the 4th floor, same plan, better view and was updated listed at $310,000 and sold for $255,000.  This is a 4 year tract of the Real Estate market in Cocoa Beach.  Respect today, forget yesterday and look forward to next week.

There is a new listing at 2100 Towers on the 2nd floor overlooking pool and ocean.  The unit has been updated with 1200 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths listed at $224,900.

Have a good one.

Jim Bagwell